Bonjour!

About Me

I’m a 45 year old mother of five amazing daughters and wife to a caring, sensitive AND sexy husband. I adore my family. I’m dedicated to my faith. I enjoy a good laugh. I'm nostalgic and love to reminisce. "Remember" is my favorite word in the English language. I love life! I’m passionate about music, food and travel. I’m fascinated with anything European. {PARIS! Hello!} I love celebrating anything and everything! I love to read, especially a good biography, mystery, Regency Era or Historical fiction novel. I love thoughtful gift giving. To me the gift wrap is almost as important as the gift itself. I love being creative…bolts of ribbon, coordinating scrapbook papers, producing a tablescape, or décor for a themed party etc. puts a smile on my face. I love the details! I’m a freak for anything theme oriented. I enjoy event planning, but oddly enough do not like to host or entertain. I enjoy fashion, but have to be really in the mood to clothes shop. I love purses and funky jewelry. I’d rather wear wedges or heels any day than flats. I enjoy decorating and searching for the perfect decorative pillow or picture. However, you’ll never see me frequent high-end stores. I'm more of a Ross, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning kind of gal. My favorite decor style is an old world rustic chateau look with a hint of bohemian, baroque and vintage shabby chic, like an English cottage. {confusing I know!} My #1 cookie-Molasses! Autumn is my favorite season. I’d go through childbirth a million times. I enjoy biking with my man, Pilates, and jogging. BUT you’ll never find me in a gym working out. I love movies, whether watching them in the theatre or cuddled up on the couch with my family. I enjoy a good chick flick or real life drama! I'm a sucker for movies on the Hallmark Channel. I love the elderly. I love Disneyland. I love being in the canyon on a summer or fall evening at dusk. I love my friends. While I have some extroverted characteristics. I’m a self proclaimed introvert. I’m generally quiet, calm, reserved and pretty darn private. Why in the heck do I blog? It’s a creative way to record family history. I enjoy photography. I really don’t like to write, although I write in my journal almost every day. I love the beach. I enjoy WWII history. I love a clean, orderly house, but ours looks lived in. ;) PBS Masterpiece is my friend. I adore Jane Austen films. They transport me to another time and place. If I had to choose another time period in which to live, early 19th Century England would be my pick. "Sense and Sensibility" is my all time favorite movie. My favorite TV series is the 1950's Spanish Drama "Velvet." My biggest pet peeve is people who blow their noses in public. So gross! {Take it to the bathroom people.} I’d go on a wine tasting vacation if it wasn’t against my religion. I’ve always wanted to adopt a baby from a foreign country. I’m an avid BYU football fan. I tutor elementary kids in phonics, reading, writing, comprehension and math. I love our campfires at Scofield Lake. I have a 'thing' for fairy gardens and Gallic French roosters. I love summer rainstorms and warm baths. I'm a Rush Limbaugh and Hannity Talk Radio Show listener. Also a fan of several Fox News shows. I hate when my kids have homework. I'd rather clean 20 toilets than give a talk or prayer in church. I collect quotes, Madame Alexander Dolls, children's books and Disney pins. I always prefer sitting in a back row versus the front. {I'm sort of a seat snob..yikes} I also have high expectations for my lemonade, salsa, and french fries too. HA! I work well behind the scenes. I love a good Dateline Mystery and the genealogy TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" I’m a night owl. I'd rather be cold than hot. I enjoy being a chauffeur to my children. I’m an Anglophile… love anything English! I would like to serve a church mission to England with Jaren someday. I'm queen of paper towel, used kitchen hand towels and dishrags make me squirm. You’ll rarely find me out of the house not ready for the day, except when driving the kids to school on the days I don't work. I feel naked without lip gloss. Pairing up white socks, chipped fingernail polish, chapped lips and brownie crumbs on the floor drive me nuts! I like to organize and BE organized..but not saying I always am. ;) I enjoy hiking to waterfalls, ATV’ing with my family and snowshoeing with the hubs. Although I enjoy collecting recipes and occasionally watch cooking shows... (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, Paula Deen, and the Pioneer Woman are my favorites) I’d rather not cook. Eating out is so much more fun. I live to eat! LOL Trying new foods and restaurants is a favorite pasttime. I love the joy of anticipation and the celebration of holidays. Family traditions are important to me. I'm a memory preserver. I'm a pathological picture taker ;) and I love happy lists!

Princess Celebration!SO...it's no secret here that I'm a big time royal watcher. So is my Emma. We made predictions weeks ago in anticipation of the birth of royal baby #2.

Whatcha do'in Emmsie?

When Emma is awake and wandering in the 7 AM hour on a Saturday morning instead of in bed sleeping, you know something is going down.

I was still in bed when she informed me that the royal baby had been born in the middle of the night.

WHAAAAT?

I missed it?

How come you didn't wake me?

{She didn't dare knowing the big day we had ahead of us with the dance recitals}

I jumped out of bed and she proceeds to show, and tell me, what she had been up to in the middle of the night.

So....before she went to sleep... late late on Friday night she happened to check her royal baby tracker on her phone.

She finds out that Princess Kate had finally gone into labor.

At 2:30 in the morning Emma is making a sign to alert whoever wakes up first... to turn on the news and wake her up. She didn't want to miss a thing. She goes to bed thinking that the labor will be hours long like it was with royal baby #1. {Not so.}

She only sleeps for four hours, but upon waking finds out the baby princess had already been born. Actually with the time difference it was born before Emma even went to sleep, but they didn't announce it on the news until a few hours later. So... we missed the actual live announcement, unlike last time when we were glued to the tv. ;) HERE

Most of Saturday morning she had live streaming on her iPhone....

Of the outside of the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's hospital in London! {haha}

I'm telling you she is loyal.

We were able to watch {LIVE} William bringing Prince George to the hospital to see his baby sister. photos from HERE

William brought to the hospital to see his baby brother, Harry, in 1984. History repeats itself. {love that.}

Is.George.not.stink'in.adorable?

So the baby's name got announced while Emma was at school on Monday. I had a little surprise waiting for her when she got home. She had avoided social media all day so her surprise wouldn't be ruined. haha. We loooove the baby's name. {and I love how she has three!}Guess who happened to choose two of the names right? Me.

You know how hard it was to name Kate? Took us a week to decide. I'm wishing we would have just used three names like the royals do. Would have made things so much easier. If I could, I'd change Kate's name from Kate Angeline to Kate Evangeline Lilly. just say'in.

printables from papergravy.com on etsy

Dance Recitals

Hannah has been dancing ten years with this program. She is in the top 14 of almost 600 dancers. This was her final performance as a Starlette. It was a little sad. Lots of tears after the last show from these girls.

Kyleigh totally knows how she feels. She's been there.

Hannah is gonna miss these girls.

At a recent Starlette Co. sleepover.

Spending some time backstage with Hannie..

As a former Starlette, Kyleigh loves the director Miss Lisa! Lisa took the time to sit with Kyleigh for a few minutes and chat with her about her upcoming mission. {So sweet.} She is such a funny lady. She always has a good story. Although, I don't think Kyleigh wanted to hear how a sister missionary from Miss Lisa's mission {years ago} got locked in her apartment closet for 6 hours by her very own companion. On purpose. But hey...

Caught grandma trying to tap in the hall....

Which reminds me of this video. {BTW which made me cry} The love of dance and the elderly hits a soft spot in my heart.

The family and friends went out for dinner after a long day of 4 recitals. Hannah and Brie danced in the first two shows and Hannah and Kate the last two. I figured out how many dance recitals we've been to in the last ten years. Pretty sure it's close to 80, if not over that.

In other news...

Kate gave her very first talk in Primary this past Sunday.

It's teacher appreciation week!

Kate's appreciation gifts to her teachers!

Books for the classroom and chocolate bars...

Missionary News.....

This was mine and Kyleigh's last temple trip together before she leaves...

She's also gone to the temple with our Stake President and his wife. They have a tradition of taking all the kids from our Stake, heading out on missions, to the temple before they leave. Very Nice.

Sister Time

Kyleigh is trying to spend time with each sister one on one before she leaves. These two have been going on multiple donut runs throughout the valley over the course of a few weeks.

They both love donuts!

They have a bucket list of ten donuts places they want to try together. They've been to four. They'll continue when she returns, but they did their last run, for now, just today....

Kyleigh got an unexpected visitor at the door the other night. Her good friend Blake's brother, Brad, just recently returned from his two year mission in the Congo. She loved her visit with him!

It was like having a piece of Blake {who is on his mission} back at home.

We've started the packing...{more on that epic task later} Wish us luck! :)